Presidential Candidates Focus On Spec. Ed.

When Al Gore and Jesse Ventura visited schools together late last
month, it wasn't just the unlikely pairing of the earnest vice
president and the flamboyant Minnesota governor that stood out. It was
also the issue that united them that made news.

The presumptive Democratic
nominee for president and the Independent governor appeared together to
promote federal special education spending, an unglamorous topic that
has come to the forefront of candidates' education platforms this
year.

Both Mr. Gore and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, the presumptive
Republican nominee, are pushing for an increased federal contribution
under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the quarter-
century-old law that guarantees students with disabilities a free,
appropriate public education. They are also taking the special
education cause further than previous presidential candidates have
done.

This year, the two leading candidates are talking beyond simply
increasing funding to advocating the creation of better
early-intervention and teaching strategies in special education.

Not long before Mr. Gore's visit with Gov. Ventura, Mr. Bush
released a multi-pronged plan last month to not only increase funding
for the IDEA, but also direct other federal aid and programs toward
helping students with disabilities.

Increasing special education funding has been a top education
priority of the GOP-controlled Congress for the past four years, and
more congressional candidates are using the issue in their
campaigns—to the delight of many education groups. The attention
given special education in the presidential race takes the issue up
another notch.

"I'm tickled," said Bruce Hunter, the chief lobbyist for the
American Association of School Administrators. "People have mentioned
it in the past, but just as a passing thing."

Both Gov. Bush and Vice President Gore have called for dramatic
increases for IDEA state grants, on top of large spending hikes the
$5.75 billion program has seen in recent years.

Bush Research Plans

Most lawmakers on Capitol Hill want to see the federal government
eventually chip in 40 percent of states' extra costs for educating
students with disabilities, the figure set when the IDEA was originally
passed in 1975. Currently, the federal government picks up only about
12 percent of the tab.

In addition, Mr. Bush has called for overhauling the Department of
Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitative
Research to better coordinate its research and disseminate information
on technologies for people with disabilities. He wants to triple
funding for the institute's Rehabilitative Engineering Research
Systems, from $11 million to $33 million a year, to help advance
research on "assistive" technologies for the disabled. He also
advocates funding for hiring staff members to help coordinate projects
between federal agencies and help businesses and others gain access to
research.

Under the IDEA, Mr. Bush wants to incorporate strategies used in
Title I and reading interventions. He has also proposed a new $5
billion, five- year incentive fund for states to help devise strategies
to teach students to read by the 3rd grade, an early-intervention
strategy that he believes will keep some students from needing special
education.

In a speech to disability- rights advocates on June 15, Mr. Bush
said that education is the key to living independently. He promised to
focus on raising the high school graduation rate for students in
special education and helping such students gain access to higher
education or job training.

"This is a bold, far-reaching proposal to help Americans with
disabilities," said Scott McClellen, a spokesman for the Bush
campaign.

Gore Trust Fund

Mr. Gore, meanwhile, says that as part of his plan to create an
"Education Reform Trust Fund," he intends, if elected, to propose the
largest increase ever in IDEA funding in his first budget. His
three-year plan would increase the $5.75 billion state grant program by
$1.5 billion the first year, then follow up with unspecified large
increases for the next two years, according to his campaign. Using part
of the anticipated federal budget surplus, the $115 billion trust fund
would also include programs for universal preschool, teacher
recruitment and pay hikes, and after-school activities.

Mr. Gore, who has said special education should be a nonpartisan
issue, first called for increasing IDEA funding during this year's New
Hampshire Democratic primary. In recent years, though, the Clinton
administration has riled some education advocates by proposing only
small increases for IDEA state grants, choosing to direct more money
toward new initiatives such as class-size reduction.

"We're very happy and hope [the vice president] maintains that
stance," Lynda Van Kuren, a spokeswoman for the Council for Exceptional
Children, a special education advocacy group in Reston, Va., said of
Mr. Gore's plan.

Mr. Gore's plan also would set up or expand "funding pools," managed
by states, to help districts defray costs of extraordinarily expensive
individualized education plans in public schools; create an
early-identification and early-intervention fund to help identify and
treat at-risk children in preschool or the early grades; and support
training in technology and special education for general education
teachers to enable them to work better with the special education
students.

Jano Cabrera, a spokesman for the Gore campaign, said Mr. Gore has
heard about the need to hike special education funding during his
daylong visits to schools on the campaign trail. "He wanted to make a
special commitment to special education," Mr. Cabrera said. "It's
something he feels very strongly about."

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